animal teachers

The Nurturing Remains: Refreshing Gidget’s Memorial Marker

Posted by Barbara Techel

Yesterday John and I spent most of the day refreshing the gardens around our house and Joyful Pause Cottage with chocolate-colored mulch. We will finish the rest today. Yay!

This marker in a shape of a heart with a small heart-shaped rock in the center, a sacred spot I can see right outside my cottage window when I’m at my writing desk, is where my sweet Gidget rests. Her heart within mine forever. Though I see the big heart as hers because that was truly who she was – she had such a large heart and capacity for love.

May 11th will mark two years since she moved on for greater travels. The ache of missing her isn’t as acute anymore. Her spirit is quieter now and her visits from the other side not as frequent. But I still sometimes sit in quiet moments and bring up in my mind favorite times with her. It always brings me a great deal of joy and comfort.

To place new mulch over the spot where she rests I found it a sacred and welcoming opportunity to gently set the stones aside, brushing away the dead debris and refreshing the area with fresh mulch. With each stone, I put back into place I did so with a deep appreciation and love as I remembered Gidget and all her wise teachings, silliness, and being the best cuddler ever.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe I’ve actually gone almost two whole years without another dog. There are times I really miss a dog companion, while other times I’m okay. I continue to trust (though sometimes I have to remind myself) that when the time is right I will know.

In honor of the two-year passing of Gidget and the recent Rio Award for our book, I’m Fine Just the Way I Am, I’ve been working on a special project. I’m recording a short video with an excerpt from each chapter of our book, along with an extra bit of discussion, that will be available on my Youtube channel. My hope is to release the first video on May 11th. So I hope you’ll stay tuned!

As I woke this morning thinking about how good it felt to renew Gidget’s memorial marker yesterday, I was reminded once again of how alive I feel when I can nurture that which I love. Though Gidget isn’t with me on this earthly plane I found that gently and lovingly attending to her place of rest was an enriching way in which I stay connected with her.

And my nurturing her sacred space of peace and all that she means to me, in turn, brought peace and nurturing to my heart.

XO

Barb

If you’d like blog post updates in your inbox just Click here to subscribe.

The Women’s Well Podcast: Animal Medicine as a Healing Practice

Posted by Barbara Techel

I’m still away on hiatus and really enjoying the Blue Ridge, GA, and surrounding areas. Though we’ve been hit with a lot of rain and more on the way, we have a few days of sunshine we are taking advantage of. It’s been unusually rainy and cold here is what the locals have told us. Go figure! We may pivot at some point and re-think our plans. Will see!

But today I’m bringing you a conversation with good friend, podcast host of The Women’s Well, and all-around lovely lady, Lisa Morris Miller. We talk about animals as oracles and calling on their essences and archetypal patterns as guides that reflect our strengths and vulnerabilities and help us to grow in surprising, unexpected, and welcome ways! Lisa and I share recent personal experiences with animal wisdom and how they each helped us in small and big ways. I think you will really enjoy this conversation!

The Women’s Well podcast is a place to nourish your health and spirit. Well guests are ordinary extraordinary women with a story, and in the telling, they shine inspiration for us all.

At The Well, we’re about the hard-earned wisdom that comes from the deep work of healing — We’re about making meaning from hardship. And humor, of course, which is often right there, next to the rough spots.
 
Click here to listen to our conversation and below catch a short video clip. Learn more about Lisa and more inspiring conversations with women on her website: Lisa Miller Beautiful Day

I hope you enjoy!

XO,

Barb

Animals as Healers and Teachers – Interview with Karen Swain, Teacher of Deliberate Creation

Posted by Barbara Techel

What a delightful, deep, funny, and thought-provoking conversation and being interviewed by Australian native and teacher of deliberate creation awakening consciousness, Karen Swain.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did spending time with Karen talking about healing with animals, evolving, and living our best lives.  Just click here or on the graphic above to listen!

XO

Barb